Shares of robotic surgery pioneer Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) have been soaring recently. A preliminary take a look at sales results from the fourth quarter of 2024 suggests its business is on the suitable track.
Intuitive Surgical’s recent performance and forward outlook are outstanding, and investors have noticed. Shares of the well-established medical technology business rose 62% throughout the 12-month period that ended Jan. 22, 2025.
Is it still an excellent time to purchase Intuitive Surgical, or has it risen too far already? Below, I’ll take a look at a number of the reasons the stock has been soaring to see if it isn’t too late to purchase some shares.
On Jan. 15, Intuitive Surgical announced preliminary results from the fourth quarter of 2024. Its da Vinci surgical robot system represents an enormous investment for hospitals, however it’s one they’re willing to make. Hospitals worldwide placed 493 da Vinci surgical systems within the third quarter, 174 of which were recent da Vinci 5 systems.
The brand new da Vinci 5 system costs between $2 million and $2.5 million. That is significantly greater than previous iterations but is not stopping hospitals from buying or leasing the brand new systems.
Intuitive Surgical’s latest surgical system could have a vital advantage over the competition. Unlike Stryker‘s endoscopic tower equipment, da Vinci 5 integrates visualization and other features right into a single tower.
Intuitive Surgical is not only placing a number of next-generation surgical systems, it’s selling heaps of instruments that have to be replaced following each procedure. Fourth-quarter instrument and accessory sales bounced 23% higher yr over yr to $1.4 billion, or 58.5% of total revenue.
Along with reporting unaudited preliminary results from the fourth quarter of 2024, Intuitive Surgical issued guidance for 2025. The corporate reported an 18% rise in da Vinci procedure volume in 2024 that would subside barely this yr. Management expects procedure volume to rise by 13% to 16% in 2025.
Because the only company selling the instruments and accessories hospitals need to make use of their da Vinci 5 robots, Intuitive Surgical has quite a lot of pricing power. Sales of instruments and accessories sales are inclined to outpace procedure volume by a couple of percentage points. In other words, the corporate’s largest revenue stream will likely rise by greater than 13% in 2025.
Along with an integrated tower, the brand new da Vinci 5 system features a force feedback feature that permits surgeons to sense the push and pull forces exerted on tissues with their fingers as an alternative of counting on visual clues.